Bike Kentucky

The soft-glow flood type light provided by the $4.99 Harbor Freight 4” 9 LED flashlight that I posted about recently left quite a bit to be desired for off-road riding.

So I ventured onto Ebay and located, from Scalediscounters, a lot of two 3 watt single LED Superbright “torch” flashlights for a “buy-it-now” price of $7.99 & $9.99 shipping.

The lights arrived last night and the single 3 watt LED greatly outperforms the two Harbor Freight flashlights that I had mounted on my handlebars. Three AAA batteries are required for each light, and run time is an estimated 30 hrs.

You get a much whiter and more focused light that projects far ahead. The combination of these two new 3 watt lights and my existing helmet-mounted light should provide ample lighting for the occasional night ride over the winter months.

The biggest drawback to the new flashlights is that the overall length is 5-1/4” and body diameter is approx. 1-1/4” increasing to 1-1/2” at the lenses end. Or in other words, it’s about the largest flashlight that I would consider mounting on my handlebars.

The 4” Harbor Freight flashlights weighed in at 106 grams each (that includes batteries) and mounting hardware added an additional 50 grams. The new 3 watt LED lights weigh 175 grams each (batteries included) and will require the same 50 grams in hardware once they’re mounted.

By comparison my helmet mounted 10W light (belt, battery & light) weighs in at 510 grams.

In conclusion, if you’re looking at doing some night riding and looking at spending as little as possible to get started, please consider a helmet mounted 10W light (numerous manufacturers have models for less than $100) and two of the 3 watt single LED flashlights described above. For well under $150 you’ll get three lights, your hardware and all the AAA batteries you need (remember the flashlights are rated for 30 hr. run times!) and have more then enough light for your off-road adventures.